Livelihoods, Equity and Sustainability Ashish Kothari Kalpavriksh
Livelihoods, Equity and Sustainability
Ashish KothariKalpavriksh
Dominant vision of ‘development’
Violence against nature, communities, and cultures … growth as cancer
Ecological context: Destruction of India’s environment
– 50% forest disappeared in last 200 years– 70% waterbodies polluted or drained out– 40% mangroves destroyed– Some of the world’s most polluted cities and
coasts– Nearly 10% wildlife threatened withextinction
Smitu Kothari
The social context • Ecosystem-dependent people (60-70% of
India’s population): food, medicine, livelihoods, fuel, shelter, clothing, culture
• Environmental destruction = livelihood, cultural, and physical displacement…for tens of millions of people
Cartoon by Vikram Nayak
60 million displaced by ‘development’ projects
Clash of civilisations …
From livelihoods as ways of life …
… to livelihoods as jobs, divorced from rest of life:
Violence against each of us: our identity, our health, our well-being!
Livelihoods to Deadlihoods
Illustrator unknown
1% richest own 50% wealth!!!!
Growing inequities, deprivation
Are there alternatives?
Alternatives to what? Structural roots of unsustainability & inequity
Concentration of powerCapitalism State-dominated regimes Patriarchy Caste / race / ethnicity….
Resistance …
… is part of the alternative
“Civil society responsible for 2-3% GDP loss” Ministry of Home Affairs
satyagraha
Assertion of self-determination & ancient ways
of life, recognition of the unrecognised
Dongria Kondh indigenous people vs. Vedanta corporation & Indian state
India: alternative initiatives for well-being
Water
CraftsShelter
Food
Energy
Governance
LivelihoodsConservation
Village revitalisation
Urban sustainability
Learning
Health
Producer companies
Inclusion
Sexuality
Gender
Livelihood security
• Reviving traditional agr diversity, community grain banks • Empowering women/dalit farmers, securing land rights• Creating consumer-producer links (Zaheerabad org. food restaurant) • Linking to Public Distribution System• Community media (films, radio)
Deccan Development Society (Andhra Pradesh)
Dharani farmer producer company, Andhra Pradesh
(facilitated by Timbaktu Collective)
Maati Sangathan, UttarakhandWomen’s empowerment through local resource-based
livelihoods
Rural revitalisation: outmigration is not inevitable
Ralegan Siddhi & Hivare Bazaar (Maharashtra), Kuthambakkam (TN)
Kudumbashree (Kerala)
Jharcraft (Jharkhand) Employment for >3 lakh families…
reviving crafts, reducing outmigration
Dignified livelihoods for urban poor
Kagaj Kach Patra Kashtakari Panchayat
& Swach (Pune)
‘Modern’ sectors
• Civil society groups • Alternative media• Activist research • Appropriate technology development
and use • Non-profit social enterprises• Responsible governance
Self-governance & livelihoods: Mendha-Lekha (Maharashtra)
Informed decisions through monitoring, and regular study circles (abhyas gat)
All decisions by consensus in gram sabha (village assembly)
Conservation of 1800 ha forests, now with full rights under Forest Rights Act
Vivek Gour-Broome
Earnings from sustainable forest use (over Rs. 20 million in last few years), and use of govt schemes towards: • Full employment, energy security, new
livelihoods (barefoot engineers, GIS mapping)
2013: all agricultural land donated to village, collective ownership
“Our government in Mumbai and Delhi, we are the government in our village”
Learning / education: re-locating it in community, ecological roots, creativity, inquisitiveness … •Adharshila, MP •Jeevanshala, Narmada•SECMOL, Ladakh •Imli-Mahua, Chhattisgarh•Marudam, Tamil Nadu •Adivasi Academy, Guj•Swaraj University, Rajasthan •Beeja Vidyapeeth, Uttarakhand•Bhoomi College, Karnataka
Skhole = leisure!
Intergenerational transmission of knowledge
•Surshala (music)•Karigarshala (construction)•Sagarshala (coastal communities)•Kala Vidyapeeth (crafts)•Parageohydrologists
Traditional & new skills for livelihoods
Alternatives across the world
Commons
Solidarity economy Degrowth
Buen vivir / sumaq kawsayUbuntu / ukama / unhu
Ecofeminism
Agroecology / permaculture Biocivilisation
Ecosocialism
ZapatistaKurdish Rojava Kyosei
Country
Eco-swaraj: Radical ecological democracy
(Radical = going to the roots, challenging the conventional)
• achieving human well-being, through: – empowering all citizens & communities to participate in
decision-making– ensuring socio-economic equity & justice – respecting the limits of the earth
Community (at various levels) as basic unit of organisation, not state or private corporation
Ecological resilience & wisdom
Radical democracy
Economic democracy
Social justice & wellbeing
Culture & knowledge diversity
Towards a sustainable and equitable society 5 interconnected, integrated circles
Olympics 2016
Olympics 2050?
A NEW POLITICS Direct democracy (local): decentralised and nested decision-making
Direct democracy (state/national): referendums & deliberative processes
Delegated/representative democracy, with mechanisms of accountability (right to recall, public audit, reporting back…)
Ecoregional planning across states and countries … political units aligned with ecological and cultural ones? Borderless world?
Conditions: Rights, Capacity, Forums, and Maturity
A NEW ECONOMICS Mindful of ecological / planetary limits
Open localisation: self-sufficiency/sovereignty in basic needs, larger trade built on this
Production, consumption (prosumption) locally controlled; & sustainable consumption line?
Re-integrating work & leisure: livelihoods
Re-commoning private & state property
Demonetisation & decentralisation of currencies: Relations of caring/sharing, local exchange systems, restructuring the market (haat)
A JUST SOCIETY Towards equity amongst
classescastes (eradication of)gendersethnic groupsspecies‘able’ities
Towards universal rights-based approaches, infused with responsibilities … sarvodaya
CULTURE AND KNOWLEDGE
Respecting non-divisive diversity of languages, cuisines, knowledges
Democratic R&D / S&T / knowledge / innovation: in public domain, participatory, transparent
Media and arts commons
Opportunities for spiritual / ethical growth (without falling into trap of communal religious institutions)
Alternative globalisation• Global flow of ideas, cultures, materials (millennia old)
NOT• Globalisation dominated by:
–unrestricted financial and economic flows–imposition of one model of ‘development’ across the world
Ingredient 5.
RENEWED RELATIONSHIP WITH/IN NATURE
• Diversity and pluralism (of ideas, knowledge, ecologies, economies, ideologies, polities, cultures…)
• Self-reliance for basic needs (swavalamban)• Self-governance / autonomy (swashasan / swaraj)• Cooperation, collectivity, solidarity, commons• Rights with responsibilities of meaningful participation • Dignity & creativity of labour (shram) • Qualitative pursuit of happiness• Equity / justice / inclusion (sarvodaya)• Simplicity / sufficiency / enoughness (aparigraha)• Rights of nature / respect for all life forms • Non-violence, peace, harmony (ahimsa)• Subsidiarity & ecoregionalism
And the cooking medium? Values & principles of transformative alternatives ….
Vikalp Sangams (Alternatives Confluences): practical collaborations, democratic visioning of futures
Vikalp Sangams (regional)Andhra Pradesh, Oct 2014Tamil Nadu, Feb 2015Ladakh: July 2015Maharashtra, October 2015Kachchh, July 2016W. Himalaya, Aug 2016Kerala Apr 2017
(thematic)
Energy democracy: March 2016Food sovereignty : 2016 & 2017Youth: Feb 2017Arts / media: 2018Adivasi livelihoods: 2018
Visioning the future, grassroots-up
(www.alternativesindia.org)www.vikalpsangam.org
transformap.co wiki.p2pfoundation.net
For continuing the dialogue …